Anderson Meadows
by DollarJumper
Summary: Umm... Don't really know what to say about it.
1. Chapter 1

Melanie's POV

I turned Dollar towards the jump, a low two feet six inches. I felt the muscles in his back tense as he cantered up to the jump. His reddish-brown ears, known to the horse speaking world as Sorrel, swiveled back and forth. He threw his head up and increased his speed. I planted my hands in his neck to keep me on and to slow him down. I let the reins slip through my fingers, and Dollar gathered himself for the jump. He tucked his front legs up and pushed off with his hindquarters. I rose with him as he soared over the jump. I being bareback slide backwards but managed to stay on. Dollar landed on the other side with out touching the jump. I patted his thick muscled neck and let him gallop. I didn't notice Lily standing by he fence until she called out to me.

"Great jump." She called.

I slowed Dollar, my Quarter Horse stallion, to a walk and he ambled over to her.

"Thanks, Lily." I said.

"Y'all look great and ready for the big competition next weekend." She said.

Lily opened the arena gate and I rode out.

"Why don't you tack up AnnaBell and come on a trail with me?" I asked her.

AnnaBell was Lily's first horse and was now about ten years old. I had given her to Lily because of a promise we had made when we were fourteen. The promise stated that I, Melanie Anderson, was to give Lily Taylor I'm A Classic Cookie's first foal. I'm A Classic Cookie, also know as Addie, was my other horse a fourteen point two hand black Quarter Horse mare.

I had two other horses, well one other horse and one pony. The other horse Dollar, I'm a Saint was his show name, was a sixteen point two hand sorrel Quarter Horse stallion. Pony, know at the show ring as ToyBoy, was my thirteen point two hand Welsh Mountain Pony gelding.

"Ok, we've done all the lessons for today and I'm sure that Anna would love the ride." Lilly said.

Lily was my best friend and also my stable manager. She had mid-back length dirty blonde hair and dark chocolate eyes. She was six foot even, long and lanky like Anna. Anna was Addie's first foal, and probable last, Anna was pure black, she had a white snip on her muzzle. She was fifteen hands even and was just like her mother in every shape and form.

"LILY HURRY UP!" I shouted.

"I'm comin'!" She shouted.

Lily came around the corner leading Anna, who was walking lazily along.

"I'm so ready for the competition next weekend." Lily said. "The two of us have been working our butts off all month for this."

"I know." I replied to her as she mounted. "I can tell by the way she is walking."

"Yeah and she needs to hurry her butt up." Lily said.

Anna must have understood the underlying threat and increased her step.

"So how's your training been coming along?" Lily asked.

"Great." I answered.

"Yeah so what horses are you taking?"

"I don't know."

"Oh well i know who I'm taking."

"Yeah."

By now we had made it halfway down the trail. The roar of thunder sounded over our heads and I held on for dear life as Dollar reared. He hated thunder. Anna stood quietly. Dollar reared again and I slide off. I screamed as I fell under him. Dollar bucked as another roar of thunder sounded. I could do nothing as I watched his hind hooves on a direct course for my stomach.

:P

Umm... Ok yeah this is the new story that me and my friend are writing. I don't really know what to say about it but we like it and so I thought that I would post it. I'm going to give it a week then post teh next chapter.


	2. Memories

Lily's POV. 

I grabbed Mel's shirt collar and yanked her out from under Dollar with all my might. Dollar stomped his back hooves into the mud, leaving a very impressive hole. Mel's breath was coming in short pants and I could feel her heart pounding though her neck.

"Are you ok?" I asked, still shaken up from the incident.

"Yeah," She panted, "I'm fine. Dollar! I'm gonna kill you!" She spat. Dollar turned around at the sound of his name. He spotted Melanie on the floor and hung his head, ashamed of what he did.

"Oh, I can't stay mad at you for that." She muttered. She held his head to her, petting his neck and kissing his muzzle. I stood up and brushed my practice breeches off. I grabbed AnnaBell's reins and led her away from Dollar and Mel.

I gazed up at the sky and let a raindrop hit my nose.

"I think we should go in. 's gonna be a storm." I said. Melanie looked up and nodded in approval.

We hastily led our horses back to the Barn. It had begun lightening and Dollar was all but going crazy. I led AnnaBell into her stall. She walked in and plopped down on the hay inside. I chuckled and watched as she started to go to sleep. She reminded me so much of her mother. I could remember he first time I met her.

It was a wet day. It had just finished raining and it was the first time I was over at Melanie's house.

"Come on and meet the horses!" She said. I was fourteen at the time, and Mel was fifteen.

"I'm kind of scared." I admitted at the gate.

"Why?" She asked, throwing her leg over the gate and dropping her small body inside. "They wont hurt you. Not as long as you do anything crazy."

I waited quietly as she led the horses over to the fence.

"This is Addie. She's a little psycho so watch it." She joke. Addie lifted her head over the fence and pushed her muzzle to my shoulder. I gasped and watched as she started to smell me. Soon enough, she began pushing her head into mine softly, like a big horsie hug.

I was immediately attached to her. I threw myself over the gate and started petting her and hugging her. She even threw up her upper lip and smiled at me. It was then that Mel promised me that she would give me her first foul and let me name it. I looked forward to spring that year and was right by Addie's side when she gave birth to the little black bundle I soon named AnnaBell.

I turned to the stall opposite to mine and saw Melanie hugging up to Dollar while thunder cracked an whipped the air outside.

"Oh, by the way you have a new student tomorrow." Mel said, petting Dollar's muzzle softly.

"Who?" I asked, curious.

"I dunno. Some boy. He's twenty-six and has never ridden a horse before. He's real country." She said.

"If he's country how come he's never ridden a horse?" I asked, confused.

"Cow farm." She said.

We both erupted into a loud laughter but was cut short whenever we saw a huge flash of lightening.


	3. Stranger

I walked out of the house, the wind whipped my shoulder blade length blonde hair in my face. I quickly pulled in back into a ponytail. Lily shouted at me from the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" She shouted.

"Just seeing how the weather is." I said before walking back into the house. "It's really windy."

"I noticed."

Lily laughed at my sideways hairdo. I sat down at the kitchen table and finished my Cocoa Puffs. I slide down the hall in my sock clad feet. Lily followed me, I was about to climb up the stairs to get my shoes when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" I shouted.

I jumped down from the steps and walked to the door.

"Hello." I said.

"Hi, I'm the new student." A dark hair young man said.

"Oh hi, if you would go wait in the barn we'll be out shortly." I said.

He tipped his cowboy hat.

"Thank you ma'am." He said.

I smiled and watched him walk to the barn. Lily saw standing at the top of the stairs.

"That's the new student?" She said.

"Yeah, hurry up!" I said.

"I'm ready."

"Well come on." I said.

We raced out to the barn and Lily won. I unlocked the barn door and the horses whinnied at us. I walked to stalls before taking a couple of horses out to the pasture and bringing a few in. We had forgotten about the new student.

"Hi." He said, politely.

"Oh yes, LILY!" I said.

She walked over to us.

"This is..."

"Chad."

"Chad, he is taking lessons in your group and then Sophie will move up into my group."

Lily nodded, she was leading a red roan mare and her little dark brown foal was galloping up and down the aisle.

"Well since your dress for your first lesson I guess I'll get you started." I said.

I led him over to one of our older horses, a chestnut Warmblood.

"This is Coco, she is really sweet and you will be riding her." I said.

Chad nodded and patted her head. I clipped a lead rope onto her halter and pushed back on the stall door. I helped him groom and tack up then let Lily take over. I walked to Dollar's stall where he stuck his head over the half open door. I led him out and tacked up. I went into the arena and started warming up. I laughed when I saw Chad falling off Coco when she started to trot


	4. Chad

Lily's POV.

I giggled as Chad fell off the horse. It was really amusing. I imagine that's what I looked like when I first started riding. Mel was furious with me, always screaming at me and telling me to get off my ass. I would hit the mud and struggle. She made me do it for hours. It hurt like Hell, but the results were worth it. I was just as good as she was now.

I examined Chad, trying to figure out his personality. He had brown hair, a nice long face and even features. He had a nice tall body. Roughly six foot one. It was long and muscular. His eyes were a dark brown, and his skin was tanned from working out in the fields. He was fairly cute, but I don't think I could ever see someone like him asking me out. He was two years older than me.

I walked over to him and pushed his hip back into place on the saddle.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, grabbing my cowgirl hat and smiling. He looked down at me and smirked.

"Yes'm." He said. He also had a heartbreaking country accent.

"Alright, if you think you're ready." I sighed. "We'll start with the basics. Balance." I grabbed Cocoa's reins and walked her over to the field. "I just want to see if you can get walking down." I said.

I gave Cocoa a gentle nudge and let her go. She started off to a slow trot. She was a good, sweet horse. A nice beginner. Chad grabbed the reins so tight his knuckles were turning white.

"Easy there, girl." He said. Cocoa whinnied in disapproval. She wasn't even going that fast.

I laughed and walked up to her side.

"You can always quit now." I said.

He smirked and looked down at me. With his black hat, his nice brown boots, and white T shirt, you would have never guessed that he had never ridden a horse. The way he looked on Cocoa was impressive.

I noticed Mel come up behind me.

"Are you two ok over here?" She asked. Chad nodded and tipped his hat again.

"Yes ma'am." He said. Mel frowned.

"I was talking about Lily and the Horse." She said.

I burst into a howl of laughter.


	5. The Lesson

Melanie's Pov

I watched as Chad fell off and then would remount for about ten or twenty minutes before moving off. Dollar gave to his right foreleg and would go no faster than a slow trot. I pulled up at the far corner of the arena, I dismounted and picked up Dollar's hoof. I saw that he had thrown his shoe. I sighed and led him back into the barn. I clipped him in the crossties.

"How did you do that, huh?" I asked him.

Dollar shook his head, seemingly answering my question with an 'I don't know.' I patted his blaze and went and untacked him. Dollar was not happy that he wasn't getting to ride. I put him in his stall and went into the tack room/office. I called the farreir and he said that he would be out tomorrow. I thanked him and hung up. Lily shouted at me.

"Olivia, Sarah, and Emma are here!" She shouted.

I hurried out of the tack room and greeted the girls.

"Good morning." I said as they entered the barn.

"Good morning," They answered together.

Olivia was the youngest of the three, about nine, she had shoulder-length dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She was one of our youngest students. Sarah was the middle of the three, about twelve, she was our first student. She had long dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. Emma was the oldest of the girls, fifteen, she was our best student, proudly wearing our stable colors in lower level events. Our red and black stripped pattern stood out in most shows. She had black hair and red looking eyes. Sarah walked up to her horse and gave him a hug. Sarah had a dark bay gelding, she didn't know what breed he was but called him Into The Mist. It was his show name but around the stable he was called Mist. She clipped a lead onto his halter and led him out into the cross ties. Olivia did the same with her horse, Max, a white Welsh Cob. Max's show name was Max-a-million. Emma brought out her black Arab, The Black. I want into my other horses stall Phantom. A black Oldenburg stallion standing at 16. He was smaller then Dollar. I led him into the cross ties in front of his stall. I tracked up and followed the girls into the arena. Lily and Chad had moved off into the round pen.

"So I have some news. Sarah you will be moving up to my group and Olivia you will be in private lessons with Lily." I said from the middle of the ring. "Oh Emma there is a show next weekend, its a little jumping show but there are some classes that will be perfect for you and Black to enter."

"Sure I would love to go. What time do I need to be here?" She asked.

"Bout five." I said. "On the rail at a trot."

The girls moved off at a trot, leaving a good space between them. After about five to ten minutes of that they moved into a canter. I joined them and warmed up Phantom. We popped over a few warm up jumps then I raised them to about two feet three inches. I went over it first then Emma, Olivia and Sarah went over. Mist knocked the rail down but I put it back into place and she went over it agian without a problem. They jumped over that a few time then I put a course and showed them the way. Emma went first and made it clear as did Olivia. Sarah was last and Mist was rearing because his friends had left him. Sarah leaned down to fix her stirrup and Mist reared. I heard her scream and everything started moving into slow motion. I kicked Phantom forward and tried to get to her as fast as I could.


	6. Hospital

Lily's POV.

We had to get Chad to drive us to the hospital on his first day here.

Mist had missed Sarah's stomach but had shattered the bone in her right arm. The doctors told us she would be fine, but something deep inside my gut told me otherwise.

Melanie didn't leave her side. She would stay right beside her, holding her good hand and reassuring her that she was extremely sorry.

Sarah would smile and tell her that it was no biggie, but the look on her face was heartbreaking.

Chad and I did a little bonding in the E.R. Apparently, He worked at the movie theater in town. And he was single.

I wanted to go and sit with Sarah, but the doctors said that only one person could be in there because they had too much equipment or something. I thought it was stupid.

"Is this how things usually are around here?" Chad asked. I gave him a weak smile and reclined in my seat.

"Usually. But most of the time it's a lot worse. I came in here one time after Anna bucked me off and tossed me through a window. And Mel was once in here for getting head butted by Dollar. They gave her so much drugs that she was high for three days and kept talking to my butt thinking it was the telephone."

Chad gave me a look and slowly turned away. I laughed. They were all true stories, but I can see how hard it was to believe.

"Well, I'm going to go get a Dr. Pepper. You want anything?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine." He muttered. I could tell we would get along great.

I ran into Mel on her way out of Sarah's room.

"Hey, how is she?"

"She's sleeping. I thought I would use this chance to go pee." Mel said.

"You're way too graphic in what you say." I muttered.

"I know. Hey, do you remember when we were in here for both falling on our heads?" She asked.

"Oh yeah! I was calling myself Mel and you called yourself Dollar." I laughed.

Chad came running down the hall, causing me to spill my drink.

"We need you in Sarah's room. It's an emergency."


	7. Home

Melanie's POV

We rushed back to Sarah's room, Lily made it first. The door slammed in my face. I banged on the door for a few moments but Lily was pushed out of the door.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know, they won't tell me." She replied.

"I'm going to leave, it's not my place to be here." Chad said.

"Lily would you mind staying, I'll go and feed." I said.

"Yeah." Lily said.

"Chad would mind taking me home?" I asked.

"Not at all." He replied.

I hugged Lily and followed Chad out to his truck. We rode the whole two hour trip in silence. Once we arrived back at the stable I thanked Chad and told him that he could come out sometime next week and to give us a call. He said that he would. I walked into the barn and saw a note pinned to the announcement board.

"We took care of the horse's for you, we followed the feed chart in the feed room. Please call Olivia, all of us are spending the night at her house. We want to know if Sarah will be ok.

Signed Olives and Emma." I smiled.

I walked into the office and picked up the phone, I called Oliva's cell phone. I told her that I didn't know if Sarah was going to be ok. Olivia said that no matter what happened today that she was still coming tomorrow for her lesson. I told her that she could but I would be teaching her. She didn't mind and I told her that I would call here as soon as I had any news. After we hung up, I sat in my office in silence. My phone rang, it was Lily.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Sarah's parents want to sell Mist. I told Sarah and she asked if we would buy him." She said.

"I don't care about the horse how is she?"

"She has some heart problems that we didn't know about." Lily said.

"Oh, can I talk to her?" I asked.

I heard the phone exchange hands.

"Mel?" Sarah's voice asked.

"Yes?"

"Will you buy Mist?" She asked.

"I don't know if we can. How much are your parents wanting for him?" I asked.

"Only $500." She said.

"Sarah of course we'll buy him and you can ride him when ever you want." I said, "Then when ever you want to buy him back he's yours for what we paid for him.":I said.

"Thanks." She said, "I'm going home in a few minutes so I'll come and say goodbye to Mist tomorrow."

"OK bye." I said.

The phone exchanged hands again.

"Lily go and tell her parents that we'll buy Mist."

I didn't wait to hear what she said. She would be furious. I didn't care thought, I owned the stable and what I said was law around here. I turned on my computer and made the final plans for the show on next Saturday. This was going to turn out to be one interesting week.


	8. Author note You HAVE TO READ!

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to tell you that I am looking for anothor author. The one that I am writing this story with doesn't want to finish it. I know what most of you are thinking. How can she want to merge someone else into this story? I just really want to finish it. I think that it could be really cool. Please if you want to be the next author message me. I will pick from everyone. The one(s) that I pick will have to write a chapter. The reason that I say ones is because I am giving EVERYONE two weeks to tell me. If there are only a few I will give a new deadline. When I pick, I DO NOT want any hate mail. This is after all MY choice. Please give me notice between Monday, October 17 to Monday November 1. This is little over two weeks. I think that it is more then enought time to decide that you want to write on this story. So anyway, but other then that I just thought that I should say that I just be able to update in more of a pattern. I hope anyway. So please, if I don't update for two or three weeks, without telling why, SOMEONE get on my case! I will thank you and prob update within a few day. So now that I got that out of the way. I'm going ahead and telling you that there will be another note around Christmas. Now have a wonderful day.

DollarJumper.


End file.
